The Raleigh Family

Invictus Emergo

Dear mom,

Thanks for the email. Today is my first day in the field. I arrived last night at like 7ish and got right to work. We went out and started contacting people. My companion did the first one and made me do pretty much all the rest. People in Brazil are way more friendly than in the states! Most of them will at least stop and talk to you even if they don’t want to hear your message. We were gonna teach an investigator but when we showed up I think that they didn't want to be taught anymore (I think that’s what happened). It was kinda sad.

My companions name is Elder Lobato. He speaks pretty much no English so I think I’m gonna learn Portuguese very quickly. Our apartment is super ghetto! Haha ... It’s pretty cool though. I don’t need a whole lot.

Tonight I think that were teaching 4 people and I’m pretty sure that we're committing them to baptism. I found out yesterday that this mission is always in the top 5 baptizing missions in Brazil.

I met someone here that knew Josh and Nate in the CTM and is from Pennsylvania also her name is Sister Peterson. But her Portuguese is really good and she’s only been here for like 6 months so I’m hoping that I can learn that fast as well. Six weeks is really cutting it close haha.

It’s good to hear about time out for women. Sorry about Chris Allen though hope everything goes okay, I’ll keep him in my prayers. I can somewhat imagine why America would be a big shock for someone from Africa. One reason I think that the Church is growing so much in Brazil is because the people here are so humble, and I can understand why it would be hard to be humble in America.

The last 3 days or so in the CTM there was a guy named Brother Mills and he’s in charge of all the MTCs in the world and he kind of shadowed our district a little bit and asked me and two other guys who were in Provo and here to compare them and he told us that what we said will affect a lot of Brazilians so that was kinda cool. Also my last day there Elder Cook came and we had a special devotional that he spoke at. It was very cool. The spirit was strong there and he spoke a lot about what a missionary is.

Also my last day there we got to go out and give away books of Mormon again. Me and my comp gave away 2 in about an hour. The first guy was just chillin' there wearing only pants in a big public square, and the second was just to guys about my age sittin' in the park and they said they’d read it, and we also pretty much taught the first discussion to a guy for like 45 mins. It was kinda hard though because it was right near a catholic seminary.

I gotta go now. Love you guys. It’s good to hear from you, and it’s good that everything’s going well back home.

 

Love,

Elder Raleigh

Wednesday, April 25, 2012 9:54:00 AM Categories: Letter's Home
Elder Ian McKay Raleigh